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FEDERAL EMERGENCY RULE MODIFIES
"LIVE ROCK" HARVEST BAN IN GULF OF MEXICO
An emergency rule restricting the taking of marine organisms attached to hard substances such as dead coral or rocks -- known generically as "live rock" -- has been modified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the request of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, it was announced today.The new rule replaces an existing emergency rule in effect since May 16 that banned live rock harvesting in federal waters off northwest Florida. Today's emergency rule will expire in mid-November.
Live rock is collected by scuba divers in the Gulf of Mexico and along the South Atlantic coast. It is sold to the marine aquarium industry, which markets it for hobbyists interested in setting up "mini-reefs" in their home aquariums. Last year about one million pounds of live rock were taken from federal waters off Florida.
Environmentalists strongly object to the harvesting of live rock. The Gulf council, an independent body established under federal fisheries law to propose management plans for controlling harvests of living marine resources, is working on a plan that would phase out all live rock harvesting in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico by the end of 1997. Without such a plan, live rock harvesting could damage the reef ecosystem and substantially harm fishery resources.
The country's eight fishery management councils submit plans to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service for its approval and implementation.
The new emergency rule prohibits taking live rock in federal waters off Alabama or taking live rock by chipping existing outcrops of the material in federal waters from Florida's Pasco- Hernando county line to the Alabama border.
In addition, the new rule prohibits the use of power tools to chip live rock in federal waters south of the Pasco-Hernando county line, and sets a daily harvest limit of 25 five-gallon buckets of live rock per vessel throughout the area where harvesting is allowed.
Both the council and NOAA have concluded that a short-term harvest of loose or "rubble" live rock with a 25-bucket trip limit won't threaten the area's reefs or its fishery resources.
The chipping prohibition essentially means harvesters will have to confine themselves to rubble rock lying on the bottom, which experts say is available in sufficient quantity to support the industry while harvesting is being phased out.
The industry is expected to develop aquaculture methods to replace "wild" live rock during the phase-out period.